Thursday 17 September 2009

school

Not a great day at school, neither of the boys wanted to go in this morning and when we picked Rowan up after school he had cut a couple of large holes in his trousers because he was fed up with getting blamed for what others were doing and at all the shouting from the teacher and Callum's teacher says he has no books - that is the 130 euros worth of books I gave the teacher yesterday in a plastic bag "Ah los libros; bien" she smiled at me yesterday, I am not impressed with her memory at the moment.

BTW thanks for the messages requesting membership - no time to play tonight so I will make changes tomorrow.

ciao

Monday 14 September 2009

Rowan birthday

Rowan had a wonderful birthday with parcels from the UK arrivng just in time on the day.
He was muy contento

Enjoyed his first cake and the next one
That is a volcano in case you were wondering

He was pleased to have help with the blowing out and some other cakes arrived too
 
It was a tad windy so I knocked up a windbreak and we hung a Panyata fom it, Coco is over just now it was great to see him again I haven't hardly seen him since I taught him in primary school.

It wasn't too windy for watersliding though

We also did parachute games 

this was a huddling game I think

And we did rolling toddlers in a blanket

here they are two babes in tartan. all in all it was a great day - Callum has a birthday next month and wants to go 10 pin bowling - he has just discovered the SImpsons...Doh!

Sunday 13 September 2009

Going private

GoingtoGalicia started out as a way of keeping friends and family informed about our move, Clustrmaps is showing me a widening readership particularly since the lyme disease posts. Given the personal nature of some of the information in the archives I am going to keep the blog available to friends and family and other known contacts but close it to public access from this Wednesday. Could anyone wishing to retain access post a comment in reply to this thread, comments will not be published but, if email addresses are included, will enable me to set membership.

I will develop the View from Valdovino blog in a more anonymous form that will still provide some insight into life out here although due to work commitments this is unlikely to start until next week.

Monday 7 September 2009

baking

We have spent much of the last week or so trying to sort our tax and social security status in Spain out, it has been rather complicated but we are making some progress at last and we have been getting the children ready for school, A bit of a shock when we picked up the school books...almost 300 euros worth and I don't think we will be able to claim any of it back again. Today must be the hottest day of the year it was a misty sunrise,although we seem to sit in a lovely clear gap with mist above, below and all around us.
that is usually a good indication of hot weather ahead and it just went on getting hotter and hotter, now its around 6 pm and everything out side is singing hot, way too hot to go out really.
 
Rowan did some more work on our tree house that is now going to be a sort of pirate sailing ship  in the woods hopefully.

The pumpkins are coming along well and the hens are on regular caterpillar hunting duty in the cabbages just now. 

One of our Brugmansias is starting to flower we did not expect it too in its first year hopefully tomorrow the first one will be open.

Monday 31 August 2009

Lugo Province, lack of electricity and some card games



We visited Lugo province for the first time recently, we stayed in a quiet little campsite at Monterroso, it was adjacent to a lovely little municipal recreation area with a clean looking river swimming pool and stepped waterfall right along side a turquoise chlorinated type of pool and a good sized area for toddlers to play in the water too. We are still having camera troubles so we don't have many pics.

Between the campsite and the pool are some relics of the ancient watermills.

 
The water was cold but the sun was hot so the boys stayed in for quite a while. 
There were also some traditional kids things. They were handy when we realised that our van had a flat battery in the morning...the alternator saga has been going on and on ...
 After a rescue by a local car electrician who amazingly refused to take any money for inspecting the alternator and charging the battery over night we chugged along eyes on the voltmeter and popped into the Zoo near Outeiro de Rei and found some impressive wood carvings starting with the huge entrance gate there are some imaginative enhancements of the natural shapes of ancient trees that have been long dead and some good use of granite starting to emerge as they develop new areas. I don't know who the artists were but we were all impressed. Sam and Mel took more pictures I hope to get some from them to put up here soon.
 
And animals of course
and a play house for Lorena
 and swings for Lorena
 
and more animals



It were a grand day out for sure but stopping at the zoo was a mistake there is a big drain starting a 2.8 diesel engine and we ran out of low tension circuit power after about 20 mins. Sam noticed I was not behind him anymore and backtracked - 15 mins with jump leads from Sam's engine charging our battery and we had enough to make it home.

We have spent weeks trying to sort out replacement medical cards, illness, administrative brick walls and our misunderstanding of the conditions applying in each country leave us with our UK issued cards running out tomorrow just as Rowan gets his second blood test results and they decide what to do next.  Lots of things could have gone wrong today - I battled a nest of angry wasps dressed in shorts and wellies (they had stripy T Shirts on as well) and won with only two  minor stings, it was getting ridiculous we had 5 stings between us in the morning before I accidentally discovered the nest with a strimmer.  I also wielded the new chainsaw's vorpal blade and chopped a dozen trees skillfully managing to keep all of my parts intact, we set off to do a major shop in Ferol armed with two charged batteries and made it back with only minutes of power left then four hours from the dealine wher our medical cards run out I managed to fall quite heavily simply by stepping into a strap handle of the inflatable kayak bag, left carelessly lying across the workshop floor, and turning round and trying to walk back again, both feet were trapped and strapped together at the ankle and down I went a victim of a classic rugby tackle by a big heavy grey bag all my weight onto my left knee on to an edge where the concrete changes level. Its swollen and painful but I don't think I need treatment however it was a timely reminder of how easily accidents can happen...I really need to sort out medical cover of some sort tomorrow morning how ever telefonica have still not agreed to transfer our calls back to talktalk (free calls to to UK for 15 euros a month) so I have to ring the UK via skype and a variable internet connection oh joy I hope I get someone who knows what they are talking about for a change.

Weather continues to be hot but I swear I can hear a swell breaking at Pantin so I expect some weather is on the way in the next few days - the ground could do with a drink.

Sunday 30 August 2009

Trees again

Actually it is quite exciting thinking of what we might do with all of the trees, a small scale fort has some votes a wooden version of Minas Tirinth or the home of the Rohrim or at the least a Swiss family Robinson house soaring up into the treetops is in the boys minds whereas I see a more modest affair more like a large log cabin kind of hut really or a Robinson Crusoe job. I have been looking around at open sided field buildings, there are a few hybrid poly-tunnel sort of constructions, using eucalyptus and plastic instead of steel and plastic, that look quite useful and doable, and I keep thinking of mazes and climbing frames, the veranda idea is now back on the cards - when we first moved here we thought we might build one along the side of the house that looks down towards the lake, we could even have paths and a woodchip drive if we bought a shredder and spent a few weeks feeding it branches. We now have more than enough wood but less than sufficient time to do the work,and eucalyptus does not last long outside in the weather so I need to tread carefully as to how and what I build, at least we won't be cold or relying on the central heating this Winter, I guess a larger stove will be needed.

Tuesday 25 August 2009

trees

I have had some requests to keep this one going so I will try and keep the local stuff going on here and post more general info on the valdovino blog.

A law was made a couple of years ago regulating eucalyptus and conifer trees, it has new been modified and the result is that none of either are allowed within 50 meters of the perimeter of land with a house on it. Jolly good we can ask the Junta to ask the owners of adjacent land to chop down the huge trees that pose a hazard should they fall in another great wind or should we get a forest fire sweeping through here. The law is not implemented very well it seems and there are still a lot of properties still surrounded by trees, I guess partly because of the low price of timber just now and partly because people make their living from these crops and want to hang on to it as long as they can. We have a strip of fairly young Eucalyptus on our land that we were planning to use as a sustainable source of biomass. If we ask for adjacent trees to be cut we will also have to cut our own trees. A time limit for complience of around 2 months will be imposed and I will have to spend a lot of time playing with my new chainsaw or the Junta will send men to cut the trees for us and we will be charged and fined for non compliance. If we don't cut our trees our home insurance would not pay up in the event of a fire damaging the property. There are many hundreds of trees of varying sizes - I think there is enough wood to heat our house for about 14 year however cut timber does not store for that long and it would be a rather large pile and many months of wielding an axe to chop it to manageable burning  bits. Neighbors whose trees are far enough away for us to feel they are not a hazard will also have to cut theirs, some of these are not really mature enough to be worth selling and wood is just not selling just now either so there might be some bad feeling created hmm but then it is a criminal offence for them to grow their trees that close - what do we do ? Well we know what we must do its just a case of how soon do we do it really.

Friday 21 August 2009

Gone

Having been here for just over a year I can safely say we have now actually gone to Galicia so I am moving to a new blog for most new posts although will still keep adding a little to this one. The next blog has no posts as I write but is set up at http://aviewfromvaldovino.blogspot.com/  The idea is to provide a perspective of Galicia and the wider world as seen from our little corner of it.

2 nights

is enough time to spend camping in the garden, the tent works although I wouldn't like to sleep in it anywhere that gets at all cold or too windy as there is a lot of netting and ventilation, definitely a warm weather tent but works well enough for what we need in Summer. Last week we got one of those lights that attracts insects then zaps them with an electric shock, reduced to 4 euros in Al Campo, I really wish I had got half a dozen of them but when I went back the next day there were none left. They work really well in a tent as long as you have a mains electric supply, we heard flies and mosquitoes being zapped all night long and there was a fair collection of them in the bottom this morning including 6 horseflies.

We had planned a lot of weekends away over the last month but illness put the hold on many of our plans however we are still hoping to spend the odd night camping in the hills inland and maybe some sand dune camping too before the boys start back at school on 10 Sept. We would also like to paddle some of the Canyon de Sil; there is so much of Galicia we still need to find our way around and develop a network of favourite spots, that seems essential if we are to feel properly at home here.

Thursday 20 August 2009

camping


We bought a 50 euro tent from al campo cracking bargain and the boys made us spend the night in it - you might recognise the camp site.

Tuesday 18 August 2009

things happening in the garden

A year on the garden is a little different, The cabin de bosque is progressing, there is a deck, a bit of a wall or two, a log walkway across to a tight group of three trees and a bit of climb inside them, we have a cargo net hammock and Sam is up a tree here starting to make a rope swing, the lense refracted a handy little arrowhead pointing at him.
Oh look there he is again he has two bits of thick string, a sawn in half log and some good knots as climbing aids to get up a tree that has no branches, drat I put the safety net on the wrong side of the tree ah well never mind Sam is very competent at not falling.

And in the veg garden.....
The pumpkin patch is doing well we have about 18 pumpkins so far and more on the way, the leaves are starting to die back and the first pumpkins are nearly ripe, we also have loads of butternuts and turban looking ones and found our first cucumber today - thanks to Shirley for the plant.


Cabbage patch coming along nicely and hundreds of leeks are about to go in to the fresh dug land at the far end.
Sweet peas growing really well, its a shame we have not got smellovision yet- they smell wonderful as do the Nicotina below.
This is where they mostly start out - in the entrance to the below the butchers shop bit that gets sun most of the day but also is sheltered. Although we inherited some plant pots with the house Jenny uses loads of milk cartons, yoghurt pots and all sorts of other recycled stuff instead of plant pots. Then she puts them in a big pile and uses them again and again.
Barbecue corner is slowly turning into a Zen garden according to some locals, you prob need to be there to see/feel what they mean.
There is always wood needing cut and Senor Madera de Mar is still protecting the hens although he does not do much wood chopping.
We had just started cooking the corn on the cob and the beans had just gone into the freezer when I thought about taking a snap of today's haul. We have been getting a bowl full of strawberries like that every day since late May, its a deep bowl, around a kilo a day I think- not bad for a 6 euro outlay on some scabby dried up little plants. Lemons are not so good this year we prob have around 30, the great wind did a lot of damage we are lucky to have any really as many people lost their lemon trees. The peppers are mixed black ones from jungleseeds, they vary from all black to red and partly green and its a bit of a lottery as to whether they are picante or dulce, that adds an interesting edge to cooking.

Saturday 15 August 2009

beaches and boats

Finally got round to grabing some images of the last few days - we spend an afternoon at Redes where we met the martlet and lots of friends. Callum tried sailing for the first time in Sam's Mirror dingy; here they are bearing away from the Martlet in just perfect wind for learning.


On the beach near Redes there was a great little pirate island with a tiny cave that was left high and dry as the tide went out.

We also went to Pantin yesterday where we met lots of great kids and did lots of snorkling, Rowan managed to find some chicas to share the kayak. Jenny even took a look underwater from the safety of the kayak. Loads of fish to be seen in crystal clear water and little shoals of shrimps like underwater clouds. As always we forgot about the camera for much of the day, we really must buy a new still camera the video one is just that bit too big to carry around in a pocket.

Thursday 13 August 2009

Morning a year on

We were all sitting at the front of the boat watching Cantabria appear on the horizon this time last year full of trepidation and excitement. Today we have to go to hospital to get Rowan's blood text results, he has not developed any secondary symptoms so we are hoping he will be fine. It was Bindle's birthday yesterday and they slaughtered lambsheep ready for a party tonight so we will be heading over to rioforcadas later hopefully for some jamming and other fun and games. It really has been wonderful having friends nearby with out our friends at rioforcadas and Samozas I don't think we would still be here. Learning the language has been way harder than we ever imagined - it is a bit of a catch 22 in that to learn Castilliano and Galego well you need to be out here - to be able to settle in out here you need to be able to speak the languages. We have been a bit too insular really although the locals are really friendly it got reather embarasing spending much of every conversation saying no etinedo no etiendo. We are geting there slowly although it is still really easy to misunderstand people.

We all stood outside about 12.30 laast night watching ice fragments burn up some lovely long trails from the meteors arcing across the sky and a few bright flashes - well worth it. Reminded me of a night years ago back in Cornwall when I saw a shooting star that just got brighter and brighter then appaered to land a couple of fields away - never did find any bits though.

Hens are doing well, still providing more than enough eggs although snowbird is doing being broody for three weeks every three weeks. The garden is flourishing, most days we have meals that are 80 -100% home grown. Summer has been warm but a bit grey at times although no where near as bad as last year in Cornwall still all the locals say they have never known a winter like the one we just had or a summer like this one..I think that is what they said last year too. Climate change is just an acepted fact here - planting and growing patterns have changed considerably over recent years.

best get off to hospital ...back later with some photos of the garden etc.

Wednesday 12 August 2009

A year ago today was like.....

http://goingtogalicia.blogspot.com/2008/08/last-days-of-caravaning.html

Today one year ago we were all packed and ready for a sailing on 13th Aug, gale force winds rain rain rain a river running through the caravan site....on the same day this year it is pretty windy in Galicia however it is 28C with a clear blue sky and I have come inside to cool off for a while. A year seems to have been a long epic journey that in some ways seems to have passed by in a flash. We have done a lot and a lot has not got done - will think on it all and try and post an anniversary post tomorrow although we are going to hospital to get Rowan's blood test for Lyme disease results and have a lot on in the afternoon too.

Telefonica troubles

At last my ear infection is on the mend, I can hear well enough to use Skype and the phone actually it is a good job I have been deaf we received a letter from telefonica a while back ignored it recieved another one and a phone call urging us to return it and after some advice we selected the option "deseo realizar las llamadas locales y a numeracion de red intelegente con telefonica" that to me and google translate means "I wish to make local calls and network numbering intelegente with telefonica" Our next bill for one month soared to almost 300 euros, we usually have international calls to the UK for free via TalkTalk... well for 15 euros flat rate a month. I guess whatever it is talktalk do counts as "numeracion de red intelegente" We are now talking to talktalk and intend moving to their full package ADSL + calls leaving only the line in telefonica's hands and if I could move that to another provider I would do it ASAP too.

Wednesday 5 August 2009

more plasticine

Callum is really getting into the plasticine modeling, every day new things appear - people, puppies, cats, swans, sheep, pizzas, a beehive and bees, bowl full of bones etc etc. He has not decided on a storyline for a film yet but he is getting a good set of characters ready.

removing ticks

This post contains information relating to potentially serious and long term outcomes from tick bites; the information provided is my own personal opinion and should not be relied on as a sole source of advice. I do not accept any liability for consequences arising for others who follow my own advice.

Removing ticks rapidly and effectively seems to be critical and is also one of the most contentious aspects of the Lyme's disease issue. The advice we received from the hospital was to use a small amount of alcohol or preferably petrol to anaesthetise the tick before removing with tweezers. This goes against the advice on many websites although is endorsed on some. My own trawl of the web has taken me through many hundreds of pages, if ticks are why you have stumbled across this blog I advise taking a look here http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/information/tick_removal.htm the site seems one of the best in my opinion. They sell tick removers that cost very little and should prob be carried by anyone tracking in the hills or bush during warm weather- carrying a couple of little bits of plastic is far more practical than herding your ow flock of guinea fowl wherever you go. The site contains some important advice:
Do Nots

* Do Not use your fingers.
* Do Not squeeze the tick.
* Do Not use a burning match.
* Do Not use a cigarette.
* Do Not use petroleum jelly.
* Do Not use cleaning fluid.

Again the following advice is my own opinion - it seems rapid removal is important; rapid as in within a few hours of the tick attaching, if you don't notice a tick I guess under armpits or groin or anywhere it is likely that it will be squeezed accidentally in some way by natural body movements or even undressing, this might well increase the chance of infection.
1. If you are in tick country be self aware of any irritation and carry out a whole body inspection especially of children within 4 hours or every 4 hours.
2. if you find a tick and do not have a removal device to hand you may have to use tweezers or if you have them long fingernails. Personally I have removed a fair few over the last 40 years intact by using long fingernails. I start a few mm away from the tick rucking the skin into a little ridge as I close in on it. As the nail contacts the tick I start twisting anticlockwise as I lift the tick out via a fairly rapid extraction. Keep the tick if possible, this might be useful for medics if you do get an infection.
3. Inspect with a magnifying lense if possible - a Swiss Army knife comes in handy. You are looking to see if any mouth parts have been left behind - these are really tiny but can cause a range of infections. I have seen these destroyed in the field by a red hot knife end and also cut out with a sharp knife end - I do not know if either strategy is advisable but they would seem sensible actions to me. If anyone has any advice on this please leave a comment.
4. If you are in an area where Lyme's disease is known to be prevalent take the tick with you to a medic and explain what has happened. If you don't have any grounds for suspecting Lyme's infection you should keep an eye out for a spreading rash that can develop over the next 3 - 7 days. This is characterised by a red outer ring expanding away from the bite site. If the rash develops go straight to a medic do not delay but do not panic or rush or call an ambulance either. At this stage antibiotic treatment should defeat any infections and reduce the potential for any long term problems.
5. Not every one develops the rash, keep vigilant for other symptoms - aching joints, fever, irrational or unusually moody behaviour seem to be prime symptoms - not relating these (or a host of other nervous system symptoms) to the tick bite episode seems to be one of the main causes of misdiagnosis. Unfortunately these symptoms may not manifest for weeks, months or even years.

Lyme's disease is serious and can lead to heart block, facial paralysis, para or quadriplegia, and a very wide range of conditions associated with the nervous system. it is thought that many cases go unreported and undiagnosed - if you are at all suspicious of any insect bite you should seek medical advice - being wrong and finding there is no problem is a great outcome; if you ignore a potentially life changing bite you might regret it for the rest of your life.

Monday 3 August 2009

Clover windmills

Since we found our first four leaved clover in the garden the van stopped working, we have had two bouts of chicken pox, one of Lyme's Disease and I have the worst ear infection I have ever had, we have now found the plant that produces the four leafed clovers and have started giving them to our friends. Hopefully things will be looking up soon, I have always taken a scientific outlook but occasionally would love to believe things are otherwise than they seem however the clover does seem to be turning out to be just another plant. Ah well life is what you make it and relying on luck and good fortune may well be less effective than many of us would like to believe.
However I have been reading Don Quixote, a large old version with the Dore illustrations, he is about to set out on a flying wooden horse; as a reader the deception is so obvious - to the good Don it is a feasible reality, poor Sancho sees the deception but his belief in his fate to be one day the governor of an island draws him into the accepting the journey and overriding his own judgement he mounts Clavinelo behind his master and abandons his life to a fate beyond his own understanding. Striving to take an objective view of life can help us see through the deceptions of others and those self-imposed by our own underlying governing values, that seems a sensible approach. If we always acted out life based on objective perceptions it could help us avoid appearing as fools but it could also take us down routes less rich, less diverse and where chance might not provide the opportunity to experience the governorship of whatever islands, real or imagined, we aspire too.

Sunday 26 July 2009

Lymes disease

Lymes disease - not two words we were really looking forward to but the erythma migrans rash on Rowan was pretty unmistakable and centers on a tick bite so we were pretty sure what had happened, we got the tick out before it had started to swell up visibly and it came out clean; one week later a circular rash started slowly expanding around the bite site. Our van is off the road awaiting a new alternator so we had to ask Graham to run us to Ferrol this morning to the centro de saude urgencias who sent us straight on to the hospital urgencias. We were really impressed with the attitude and the systematic investigation, 'reassuring, relaxed but competent staff' was how I felt afterwards anyway after spending a few hours in hospital having some blood tests taken and a thorough examination today a very brave Rowan has now has started antibiotic so hopefully all will be well. Two weeks of amoxycillin then a revision and the results of the blood tests will decide what further treatment is needed.

I spent a lot of last night trawling the web and never have I met such a range of potential symptom and prognoses; as the possible infections enter the nervous system there are many many potential effects. One thing I did not find after two hours of searching was how urgent it was to get to hospital only many references to late diagnosis being difficult and early diagnosis being critical to the outcome of treatment. At 3 am worried about my son I wasn't sure what timescale early and late were operating...I wanted to find a sentence like "If you suspect Lyme's disease go to hospital immediately" or "....go to hospital as soon as is convenient but within a few days/12 hours" or whatever the recommendation is.

For every site that says carefully remove the tick with sharp tweezers there is one saying use clinical alcohol or petrol to anesthetize the tick for a few minute before puling it out so that if relaxes its grip and comes out clean. Others say don't use alcohol etc as it stresses the tick that then regurgitates some of the stuff it has sucked out back in again along with infective parasites so vastly increasing the risk as does disturbing or squeezing the body.

I found general alignment on:
80% of infected bites cause the radiating rash.
infection can occur with no rash symptoms - other symptoms may manifest after weeks or months and be difficult to relate back to the bite episode.
Within 18 hours of an infective bite the spirochetes are in the spinal fluid.
Early treatment is a definite advantage, late diagnosis / treatment can lead to a long drawn out affair and a fight against some potentially life changing / life threatening situations.
A significant proportion of infections go undiagnosed and it is possible that a worrying proportion of these are treated as attention deficiency disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome or a fair few other neurological disorders.
You can spray grass/woodland to control them but what with... I could not find out last night although I was concentrating on finding the diagnosis / prognosis info.
Primary hosts for the larval stages are small rodents ( our hectare of garden has hundreds of those maybe more than hundreds)
Deer and sheep are common primary hosts for the adult stage; reputedly 2500 ticks have been found on one deer. (We have deer wandering the woods all around our garden, although they can't get in the ticks and the rodents that carry the larval stages around will be able too. )
wellies sturdy trousers etc are recommended but it is so hot here that is unlikely to be manageable and they do manage to get through clothing so the only really effective approach to prevention, when in tick rich areas, is to do an all over body check every 2 -4 hours.
Guinea fowl are reputed to love ticks and be a fairly effective means of controlling then - looks like our hens will have some new friends I have always wanted to keep guinea fowl since trying to catch the tails of wild ones from the back of a landrover in Kenya in the 70s. They are great watchdogs er watchfowl shouting at intruders, they eat all sorts of bugs but unlike hens do virtually no damage to gardens, they produce eggs with large yolks that otherwise are very similar to hens eggs and a small flock of them will face up to and often scare off a fox, and they don't mind moving in with hens - done deal if I can find any.

So after a tough year at work and very recently surviving a redundancy situation here I am on the first proper day of my holidays tomorrow and instead of relaxing and de-stressing we have week of being fairly housebound while we wait for the new alternator to arrive and a month of trying to eliminate ticks and wondering what is going to happen with the boys. We have to keep a close eye on Callum too; although he has no symptoms at all I removed a tick from his ear on the same day - it seemed to only just have arrived and was easily removed so hopefully he will be fine and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

My Grandad Davy Pirnie used to regularly say "Ai ai ai life ey; it happens every day non stop." ...he wasn't wrong.

Pete and The Martlet arrive in Cedeira

Sam and Bindle's Dad Cap'n Pete has sailed the Martlet down from the UK to Viveiro over the last month or two, Sam Mark Ruan and I went to help him bring it round from Viveiro to Cedeira today.

I woke to a windless clearsky morning with wisps of mist floating through the village, that always seems to indicate a hot day ahead. This is the view out of our bathroom at 7 am.
Mel dropped us all off at the FEV train station - that is a tiny narrow gauge train that gets up to a whole 3o kmph or perhaps a little more downhill with a following wind anyway a lovely journey was had by all. Ruan nearly fell asleep we toyed with the idea of just leaving him where he was or quietly moving seats so when he woke up he would think we had all got off already but we just didn't have the heart.
We stepped on to the station at Viveiro and a few mins later we were looking at the Martlet a lovely 1959 Morgan Giles built proper boat, she is one of 5 admiralty sail training boats they built and was in service until the late 80s. The sun was already high so literally two minutes later the engine was started and we were tuk tuking out of the harbour surrounded by mullet.
Just not quite enough wind so a few hours of motoring got us on our way, half an hour out a stubby black fin broke the surface and was gone in seconds. Sam was looking the wrong way and I had the camera in the wrong place too oh dear never mind better luck next time.
I managed to get a little bit of work done in a very mobile office but it was just too wonderful to be properly nerdy.
Time did that timeless thing it does at sea, I had brought some freshly dug potatoes and freshly lifted onions, Sam added Eggs, Pete added tomatoes and lettuce and a great tortillia lunch emerged.

We passed Cabo Ortegal (43º 46' 20' Norte, 7º 52' 05' Oeste) after a couple of hours; the cliffs here are 620 meters high that's a tad over 2000 feet in old money. Does it look spectacular in real life - yes yes yes; does it look spectacular in a photo - no no no :( If you visit here by boat or car you should go to the faro at the cabo The Cantabrian sea turns into the Atlantic Ocean off here and the views from on land are wonderful.
Pete has a wonderful boat, she looks and feels right, soon after rounding the cabo we felt just that little extra wind and the motor was off a few mins later, silence engulfed us and we watched San Andres de Teixido perched on the cliffs slip past us. They say everyone visits San Andres - if you don't go there in life you go there in death. I am not quite sure about the logic of that but it is a lovely place to visit in any state; great walks on the cliffs, a lovely church and some ancient lanes and houses.

Mark did falling asleep in the sunshine we had to turn him every now and then and occasionally swab him down with teak oil, here are his feet getting a basting.

We had a lovely run round from there to Cedeira with a freshening wind and a following swell. With Sam at the helm, and Pete doing pointing which way to go, the Martlet flew along; we may have scraped 7 knots and that was not bad going given the light conditions...of course just as we entered the ria and just before we came into sight we were in the lee of the cliffs and the wind fell away to spoil our sprint finish but we still managed to sail all the way to the mooring.

I really had a wonderful time...we all did. Pete is berthing in Cedeira between now and October or maybe longer, his partner Geraldine is arriving via the Pont Aven on Monday and bringing with her the spinnaker pole - that is kind of useful to have on board the same boat as the spinnaker. Martlet will be occasionally available for charter over the summer. She will soon have her own blog I hope to start it off with some video of today's trip if I can persuade the vidcam to part with its film - its a bit reluctant at the moment. Apologies about the poor quality images the still camera thinks its memory is full despite being emptied shake rattle and rolled and the vidcam is ancient and does not do great stills...normal quality will resume ASAP.

Until I get the Martlet's own blog underway - if you are interested in chartering the boat drop a comment on here with some contact details; the comment wont be published but I will send your details on to Pete.

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Kite

Outside a Red Kite just circled our garden, I could see its gaze scanning the field lingering on the hen coral, the hens all ran for cover when it was still far off but it is not interested in them it is the two big black rooks that have build a nest in the top of a 35 meter eucalyptus tree bordering our field that are its focus. I think it was circling finding a good updraft it went over one spot a couple of times low down then third time it powered down into the spot then soared almost vertical with massive acceleration, twice the height of the tree and straight down again wings folded talons out. In a couple of long stretched out seconds loads of stuff happened ;one rook rose up from underneath, the other had a messy launch from a branch a few meters from there nest lots of flapping and feathers flying as branches whipped around it in summer squalls. Both went for the same side of the Kite trying to twist and turn it off trajectory, the three fellflew down through 10 meters of branches, separated, recovered flight and with one crow ending up in front the kite gave chase and they were swooping across the maize fields just above ground level then soaring up into open air twice as high as the trees all in a few short seconds. It looked like the kite was drawing the crows away offering some aggression and just avoiding the harrying until they were circling a kilometer or so away one crow went in with big hits to the Kite’s wing while the other went off in a broad swoop towards the nest site. The Kite sends the harrying crow spinning down and uses the few seconds advantage to gain some height and make a straight vector for the nest the crow that had arced off was also heading in to the nest at a tangent and again the Kite was deflected, the second crow arrived and they all headed off to do the thing across the fields. The Kite gives up and heads off to hassle at another tree top venue, the crows return to their nest to make a fuss and tell the world how brave and clever they are. The kite got their first hatchlings about 10 days after they hatched, this is their second clutch. I wonder if they have learned how to defend the site well or if this was a temporary victory. It was a close run skirmish; it seems to me that a mere flapping of a butterfly’s wing could tip the balance against them. Ah well time will tell - that was a almost live glimpse through my window at work… best get on and do some.

Saturday 11 July 2009

On the lake again

Wespotted a few granos on Callum yesterday evening so, fearing more varicela might be going to keep him at home for a few days, Kate and I took him to look at the sunset on the lake again, no otters but a lovely 30 mins of tranquility. He did some great paddling into the sunset.




And sure enough next day he is covered in granos and feverish poor chap he hates taking medicine. BTW we are managing to have a few meals a week constructed soley of home grow produce, we picked some fresh basil today and it smelled like a different herb to what is available in most shops. We never intended to become self sufficient but it really is wonderul eating fresh picked veg going from plant to satisfied tum without all that processing packaging and transportation. During the 2nd WW the UK was covered in gardens and allotments full of food, I wonder what the environmental impact would be if we were back in that frame of mind again. It is not hard keeping a couple of hens, growing some beans and onions a few tomato plants and lettuces, if you are limmited for space a lot of veg does wll in big pots in the UK and it is surprising how productive and rewarding a few plants can be and for us at least it really is comforting knowing a fair proportion of our food has not been touched by pesticides or boosted by artificial fertiliser, irradiated fumigated etc etc.